When Sumner again got the floor, he said in reference to Senator Butler's remark: "In fitful phrase, which seemed to come from unconscious excitement, so common with the Senator, he shot forth various cries about 'dogs,' and, among other things, asked if there was any 'dog' in the Constitution?
The Senator did not seem to bear in mind, through the heady currents of that moment that, by the false interpretation he fastens upon the Constitution, he has helped to nurture there a whole kennel of Carolina bloodhounds, trained, with savage jaw and insatiable in scent, for the hunt of flying bondmen.

No, sir, I do not believe that there is any 'kennel of bloodhounds,' or even any 'dog' in the Constitution." Thereafter offensive personal references between the Senators from Massachusetts and South Carolina became habitual.

These personalities were a source of regret to many of Sumner's best friends, but they fill a small place, after all, in his great work.

Nor were they the chief source of rancor on the part of his enemies, for Southern orators were accustomed to personalities in debate.

Sumner was feared and hated principally because his presence in Congress endangered the institution of slavery.
Sumner's speech on the crime against Kansas was perhaps the most remarkable effort of his career.